July 2017 U.S. Airline Traffic Data

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that U.S. airlines’ July systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passenger enplanements rose 0.8 percent from June, rising for the seven consecutive month to 71.6 million, to reach a new all-time seasonally-adjusted high (Table 1).

In one year, from July 2016 to July 2017, enplanements on domestic flights increased 4.8 percent while enplanements on U.S. airlines’ international flights to and from the U.S. rose 5.7 percent, resulting in a 4.9 systemwide increase (Tables 1, 2, 3).

In three years, from July 2014 to July 2017, enplanements on domestic flights increased 12.9 percent while enplanements on U.S. airlines’ international flights to and from the U.S. rose 10.3 percent, resulting in a 12.6 systemwide increase (Tables 1, 2, 3).

In unadjusted numbers for July, systemwide, domestic and international enplanements all reached all-time highs for any month (Tables 13, 14, 15).

Trends (Percent changes based on unrounded numbers)

Seasonally-adjusted

The following seasonally-adjusted measures of U.S. airlines July air traffic reached all-time highs:

Systemwide passenger enplanements (71.6 million) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.8 percent from the previous high in June 2017 (71.1 million) (Table 1).

Domestic passenger enplanements (62.5 million) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.9 percent from the previous high in June 2017 (61.9 million) (Table 2).

International passenger enplanements (9.18 million) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.3 percent from the previous high in June 2017 (9.15 million) (Table 3).

Systemwide revenue passenger miles (RPMs) (81.5 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.7 percent from the previous high in June 2017 (81.0 billion) (Table 4).

Systemwide available seat-miles (ASMs) (97.4 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.4 percent from the previous high in June 2017 (97.0 billion) (Table 7).

Domestic ASMs (68.2 billion) reached a new seasonally-adjusted all-time high, up 0.6 percent from the previous high in June 2017 (67.8 billion) (Table 8).

International RPMs and international ASMs declined from July to June:

International RPMs (23.7 billion) were down 0.3 percent from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (23.8 billion) reached in April 2017 (Table 6).

International ASMs (29.10 billion) were down less than 0.1 from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (29.14 billion) reached in June 2017 (Table 9).

Systemwide load factor (83.7) was down 0.9 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (84.7) reached in October 2015 (Table 10). Domestic load factor (84.8) was down 1.0 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (85.8) reached in October 2015 (Table 11). International load factor (81.3) was down 1.7 points from the all-time seasonally-adjusted high (83.0) reached in March 2013 (Table 12).

Load factor is a measure of the use of aircraft capacity that compares the system use, measured in RPMs as a proportion of system capacity, measured in ASMs.

The seasonally-adjusted load factor rose from June (83.5) to July (83.7) because passenger travel grew faster (0.7 percent increase in RPMs) than system capacity (0.4 percent increase in ASMs) (Tables 4, 7).

Seasonally adjusted trends are for the time period January 2000 to present. Additional data, including domestic and international numbers, can be found on the seasonally-adjusted data page.

The following unadjusted measures of U.S. airlines July air traffic reached all-time highs for any month:

Systemwide passenger enplanements (79.8 million) reached an all-time high for any month, up 3.7 percent from the previous high (76.9 million) reached in June 2017 (Table 13).

Domestic passenger enplanements (68.5 million) reached an all-time high for any month, up 2.8 percent from the previous high (66.7 million) reached in June 2017 (Table 14).

International passenger enplanements (11.2 million) reached an all-time high for any month, up 4.6 percent from the previous high (10.8 million) reached in July 2016 (Table 15).

Systemwide RPMs (94.1 billion) reached an all-time high for any month, up 3.8 percent from the previous high (90.6 billion) reached in July 2016 (Table 16).

Domestic RPMs (65.0 billion) reached an all-time high for any month, up 4.1 percent from the previous high (62.5 billion) reached in June 2017 (Table 17).

International RPMs (29.1 billion) reached an all-time high for any month, up 2.8 percent from the previous high (28.3 billion) reached in July 2016 (Table 18).

Systemwide ASMs (108.6 billion) reached an all-time high for any month, up 4.1 percent from the previous high (104.4 billion) reached in July 2016 (Table 19).

Domestic ASMs (74.8 billion) reached an all-time high for any month, up 4.4 percent from the previous high (71.7 billion) reached in June 2017 (Table 20).

International ASMs (33.8 billion) reached an all-time high for any month, up 2.9 percent from the previous high (32.9 billion) reached in July 2016 (Table 21).

Systemwide load factor (86.6) was down 0.8 points from the all-time July high and the high for any month (87.4) reached in 2015 (Table 22). Domestic load factor (86.9) was down 1.2 points from the all-time July high and the high for any month (88.1) reached in 2015 (Table 23). International load factor (85.9) was down 1.0 points from the all-time July high and the high for any month (86.9) reached in 2013 (Table 24).

When the primary purpose is to examine monthly shifts in transportation services output and analyze short-term trends, the variation introduced by normal seasonal changes must be removed from the data. Transportation is highly seasonal, and without adjustment, the data do not give an accurate picture of underlying changes in aviation, passenger travel.

Seasonal adjustment of the data removes the seasonal events that follow a regular seasonal pattern. Changes that are not due to seasonality, such as a change in air travel resulting from economic conditions become more readily apparent.

The aviation data are seasonally adjusted for the effects of trading day, moving holidays, and data outliers.

Data are compiled from monthly reports filed with BTS by commercial U.S. air carriers detailing operations, passenger traffic and freight traffic. This release includes data received by BTS from 83 carriers as of Oct. 3 for U.S. carrier scheduled civilian operations.

Traffic numbers are available on the BTS website at TranStats, the Intermodal Transportation Database, at http://transtats.bts.gov. Click on “Aviation.” For systemwide passengers, RPMs and ASMs by carrier through July, click on “Air Carrier Summary Data (Form 41 and 298C Summary Data),” and then click on “Schedule T-1.” Use crosstabs to find scheduled service.

For domestic numbers through July and international numbers through April by origin as well as by carrier, click on “Aviation,” then click on “Air Carrier Statistics (Form 41 Traffic).” Click on “T-100 Market” for system passenger numbers, “T-100 Domestic Market” for domestic or “T-100 International Market” for international. For flights, stage length and trip length, use the appropriate T-100 Segment database. Use crosstabs to find scheduled service.

International totals in this press release consist of all U.S. carrier operations to and from the U.S. and from one foreign point to another foreign point. TranStats T-100 systemwide and international totals do not include U.S. carriers’ foreign point-to-point flights. For July, U.S. carriers reported 51,206 foreign point-to-point passengers. For January through July, U.S. carriers reported 405,130 foreign point-to-point passengers.

Data are subject to revision. BTS has scheduled Nov. 16 for the release of August traffic data. None of the data are from samples so measures of statistical significance do not apply.